This past Saturday, I got an opportunity to take part in a food blog tour organized by Burgh, Bits, and Bites. The idea of these food tours is to explore the history and experience good food at various neighborhoods in Pittsburgh. Cory, who was our tour guide, gave we food bloggers a tour of Dormont. Before this tour, I never really thought of Dormont as a significant cultural or culinary destination. In fact the only time I ever ate at the area was when I took my ex-girlfriend to Eat'N Park on the main road and that was 4 years ago. I do like Eat'N Park, but after going through the tour I certainly now have more options. I won't mention everything about the tour, but will give you guys a few highlights.
If you are male attending any of the food tours, I just skipping out on getting the free grocery bag from Burgh, Bits, and Bites. Don't get me wrong, it's great for grocery shopping if you're a female. Having to carry that around during the tour is uncomfortable and makes me less of a man. Fortunately, I was able to get to my car during the tour and put the bag away. Crisis averted.
First highlight of tour was stopping at Dormont Dogs. It's a local hot dog eatery that serves 100 percent beef dogs. They also serve veggie dogs as well. I ended up sampling the Texas Ave. Dog, which has chili sauce, cheddar cheese, sour cream, and Fritos. The hot dog was pretty good, and having the Fritos in there adds an extra crunch to it. I also like the fact that the hot dog buns came from Potomac Bakery. Local places helping each other out. Can't go wrong with that.
Another highlight of the tour was going to Fredo's Market. Fredo's sells food from all over Europe. You can also order food to eat in or to go. The owners of Fredo's had us sample their spinach and feta swirl. It had a light airy taste to it and you could equally taste the spinach and feta. Also Sadik, whose wife owns the market, gave us his life story how he escaped from war-torn Yugoslavia in the 90's and came to the United States. It's refreshing to hear someone who has been throughout that ordeal and made a good life out of himself and his family in the states.
The last highlight I'll mention is our stop to Sugar Cafe. Sugar Cafe are known for their homemade pastries and deserts. Of all the deserts I could sample, I chose the one with the most alcohol of course which was the Irish Car Bomb cupcake. Kelly James, who owns the cafe, said that the cupcake contains Guinness Stout chocolate cake that is soaked in a light whiskey syrup and butter cream which is Bailey's Irish cream. I love how you can taste the alcohol and the decadence from the cupcake. Definitely a cupcake and alcohol lover's dream.
All in all, I would rate the tour 9.5 out of 10 only because I didn't like the grocery bags. Okay, I'm being a jerk. I'll give it a 9.7 out of 10. Happy now, blog readers? If I was a female, it would have been 10 out of 10. I would like to thank Cory for giving us the guided tour of Dormont. You could clearly see that Cory has a passion for food and culture. He is not originally from Pittsburgh, but he certainly knows more about the city than I do. Because of this tour, now I have a better understanding of the Dormont neighborhood and now have more food options next time I go to Dormont.
I also want to give mad props to my friend Dave who helped me with this project by being my camera guy.
Related Links:
Burgh Bits and Bites
Culinary Cory
Sugar Cafe
Fredo's Market/Deli
Diamond Goat Media, my friend Dave's website
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